MIAMI (AP) — Colombia's government has applied to join a China-based development bank, another sign ofLatin America's drift away from the U.S.as theTrumpadministration's foreign aid cuts, trade barriers and crackdown on immigration spurs many leaders in the region to seek closer ties withWashington's geopolitical rival. Colombian PresidentGustavo Petrowrapped up a visit to China this week with a stop in Shanghai, where he met with former Brazilian PresidentDilma Rousseff, the head of the New Development Bank. Themultilateral lenderwas set up a decade ago as a project of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the so-calledBRICS nationsof major developing markets — as a counter to U.S.-dominated institutions like theWorld Bankand Inter-American Development Bank. To date, the New Development Bank has approved loans for 122 infrastructure projects totaling more than $40 billion in areas such as transport, sanitation and clean energy, according to Rousseff. Petro, speaking to reporters in China on Saturday, said that Colombia is committed to purchasing $512 million worth of shares in the bank. He said t hat he was especially excited by the possibility of securing the New Development Bank's support for a 120-kilometer (75-mile) canal, or railway, connecting Colombia's Atlantic and Pacific Ocean coastlines that he said would position the country at the "heart" of trade between South America and Asia. Colombia is the second Latin American country to try and join the bank after tiny Uruguay sought membership in 2021. But Colombia's traditional role as a staunch U.S. ally and caretaker inthe war on drugsis likely to raise eyebrows in Washington. The U.S. State Department this week said that it would "vigorously oppose" financing of projects linked toChina's Belt and Road Initiativein Latin America following Petro's show of support for the strategy at a summit with fellow leftist leaders from Brazil and China. Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, said he wouldn't be dissuaded by U.S. pressure and reaffirmed that Colombia seeks to remain neutral in a new era of geopolitical wrangling. "We made this decision freely," Petro told reporters from Shanghai. "With the United States we can speak face to face, with China too."
